Immigration officers face furloughs as visa applications plunge

WASHINGTON» Three years of restrictive and sometimes draconian immigration policies have left families separated, applicants for visas stranded and would-be immigrants looking for alternative destinations.

Now a new group is facing uncertainty, driven in part by the coronavirus pandemic and President Donald Trump’s immigration policies: thousands of employees of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Nearly 70% of the agency faces furloughs because the immigration processing fees that fund it have plummeted.

Joseph Edlow, deputy director for policy of the agency, which screens people seeking immigration relief and protection, has told his approximately 19,000 employees that the decline in revenue from fees attached to immigration and visa applications during the pandemic has forced the agency to turn to Congress for an emergency infusion of $1.2 billion.

But Democrats and Republicans said the administration had yet to provide sufficient information about the funding request, and Citizenship and Immigration Services is preparing to furlough nearly 13,400 employees by Aug. 3.

The cause of the budget crunch is in dispute.

Some agency employees and members of Congress blame Trump’s restrictive policies, which have dried up fee revenue by adding to delays and backlogs of visa applications.

Top administration officials point to the pandemic.

The agency has seen a 50% drop in fees from applications since March.